548 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON PUERPERAL FEVER. 
vital importance, when it is judiciously done ? yet what opera- 
tion is more frequently bungled ? When bleeding is properly 
performed, it very soon alters what is called the malignant cha- 
racter of puerperal fever; and the same remark is equally appli- 
cable to the way in which practitioners attend their cases in this 
as well as in many other diseases ; for our success will entirely 
depend upon the attention which we pay to our patients. What 
is to be expected but death w r hen only one or two visits are paid 
each day to an animal labouring under an inflammatory affec- 
tion ? In the morning we cannot bleed, — in the evening we are 
afraid : but we have, perhaps, lost the golden hour at mid-day, 
when we could have opened a vein not only without danger but 
with the happiest results. 
I must now conclude ; and perhaps no one will blame me for 
exposing what I do not believe to be the truth. This paper has, 
no doubt, many faults ; but where is there one without them ? 
If some of my opinions do not agree with the statements of others, 
I cannot help it ; I am no more bound to their views than they 
are to mine ; and if we differ, we have a right to do so. I would 
reject the opinion of my teacher if I had good grounds for so 
doing ; and he would not blame me for it. Are young men to 
leave the college or the school to go through life with the, per- 
haps, old-fashioned opinions of their teachers buckled on their 
backs, not daring to think for themselves, as if this were break- 
ing the decalogue? Is every improvement to be viewed as an 
innovation, and looked on with a jealous meanness of spirit, 
unbecoming and at variance with the general character of our 
teachers? Surely not. It is to be regretted that many young 
men, after leaving the college or the school, think that no more 
study is required, for, acting upon this principle, they will be 
found in a few years with very little more information than the 
common farrier or blacksmith. 
[We had considerable doubt as to the propriety of inserting 
this paper. There is a want of courtesy about it which must 
render u discussion either on medicine, law, or politics” produc- 
tive of far more harm than good. There are insinuations, and plain 
point-blank assertions, which, with regard to veterinary practi- 
tioners on both the north and the south of the Tweed, we indig- 
nantly repudiate ; and we would also, in the strongest language 
we can use, enter our protest against the repeated attempt to 
kindle dissension or jealousy between either the teachers or the 
pupils of the northern and southern schools. Our object, our 
wishes, our interest, our reputation are the same ; and let no 
one wilfully or incautiously scatter the seeds of discord between 
us!— Y.] ‘ 
